WAKAWAKA! It’s Time for Africa!

My trip to Morocco turned out amazing. I’m so glad I didn’t end up switching the date of me going.

First I’ll explain a little bit about the places I visited. Tanger (Tan-geer) is where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean. It’s full of LUSH green hills and trees and mountains! It is not what you expect when you think of Africa at all. It is basically a mixed city where everyone has left their mark throughout history Phoenicians, Berbers, Portuguese and Spaniards before the Moroccans took it over. Tetouan (Teh-ch-won) is in the Rif Montains and looks over the Mediterranean Sea. The Berbers founded this city and it is just quaint and beautiful for sights. Finally we visited the town of Chefchouen (Chef-shou-en). The whole town is very windy and it is super easy to get lost in. The people are welcoming and the houses are simple. Each house is usually decorated with white walls and a bright blue door. It is relatively clean and the town sits between two mountains which makes for a nice view!

My weekend went like this:

Friday we left Sevilla around 5 and got to the port where we would take a ferry to Tanger (where our hotel was at for the weekend) at around 730 and got to our hotel at 830 or so. This hotel was amazing, beautiful and different to me but probably standard architecture to those who live in Morocco. We settled into our rooms (I got to room with Madelon) and ate dinner which was a little different because, obviously it was things we don’t even eat here in Spain! We had Cous-cous (which I have had before and like a lot) and LOTS of veggies and just, a HUGE spread of different foods! It was great. We went basically right to bed that night because we had to get up and be ready to go by 8am. 

Saturday we got up early and went to Ride camels on the beach! It was a short ride, but that was enough for me! Haha! Having the camel stand up and get down with you on it is quite an experience!! Then we had time to hang out at the beach a little-just going down to the ocean and taking pictures which was absolutely beautiful. Then after the Camel rides/Beach we went to the caves (de Hurcules). After that we got back on the bus and drove to Tetouan which was about 2 hours away. There we ate at a restaurant which again, aesthetically beautiful and I enjoyed the food; and then took  a walking tour of the city. It was quite beautiful with all the mountains. We visited a Moroccan Rug shop.. I think our guide said it was the Berbers.. and met some adorable little children and just had a great time. At the end of our walking trip we were supposed to go have free time to shop but they had found out there was supposed to be a peaceful protest in the square where we were going to be, and just got us out of there right away. No need to chance it. J So that night we went back to the hotel and hung out and had supper and then Rufus, one of the guides, put on a magic show for us which was awesome. He’s an amazing magician. And we played a game which my team won, BUT we all get to win a prize…which is a calendar of the Discover Sevilla team (men).. which they made to raise money for the children in 3^rd world countries. Then some stayed downstairs to hang out and some of us just went back up to our rooms for the night to relax. 

Sunday we took a bus ride to Chefchouen which was about 1 hour/45min away from Tangers. Our guide here was the best one I had the entire trip I think. He took us on a walking tour and joked around and just was very knowledgeable about different information. Sunday was a market day in Chefchouen and so we got to experience the Moroccan Market which was DEFFINATELY an eye-opener! I could not imagine some of the things we saw and heard… Blair and I heard a cluckcluckcluc—crack and knew that meant he had just killed the chicken. Which, totally weird for me but I’m glad he was doing it and they were healthy chickens not like in the US with some companies who mistreat/fatten up their chickens with hormones, etc. Anyway, and they definitely eat every part of the animal there too. You will see if you look at my pictures on Facebook. Then after the tour we had lunch which was cous-cous again… and Kabobs which were both really delicious and also some Moroccan cookies for dessert. After lunch we visited the ‘Pharmacy’ which was really like a mixture of spices and natural ingredients they use for cooking and also for curing things like snoring/etc. but it was awesome! I got a 3 Euro massage which was amazing. At the pharmacy I bought a few presents. I got 9 grams of Saffron, and the stuff that is "supposed" to stop snoring! haha we will see!! and I also got a free lipstick which depending on the temp of your body is like clear, pink, or red if your hot. IT STAYS ON ALL DAY. so hard to get off but kinda cool haha! Then we went to a Moroccan Rug shop again which had some really cool cool pretty prettyyy rugs but LittlE DiD I know... he wanted 300 EURO for it. I tr

Monday, February 28, 2011

WAKAWAKA! It’s Time for Africa!

My trip to Morocco turned out amazing. I’m so glad I didn’t end up switching the date of me going.

First I’ll explain a little bit about the places I visited. Tanger (Tan-geer) is where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean. It’s full of LUSH green hills and trees and mountains! It is not what you expect when you think of Africa at all. It is basically a mixed city where everyone has left their mark throughout history Phoenicians, Berbers, Portuguese and Spaniards before the Moroccans took it over. Tetouan (Teh-ch-won) is in the Rif Montains and looks over the Mediterranean Sea. The Berbers founded this city and it is just quaint and beautiful for sights. Finally we visited the town of Chefchouen (Chef-shou-en). The whole town is very windy and it is super easy to get lost in. The people are welcoming and the houses are simple. Each house is usually decorated with white walls and a bright blue door. It is relatively clean and the town sits between two mountains which makes for a nice view!

My weekend went like this:

Friday we left Sevilla around 5 and got to the port where we would take a ferry to Tanger (where our hotel was at for the weekend) at around 730 and got to our hotel at 830 or so. This hotel was amazing, beautiful and different to me but probably standard architecture to those who live in Morocco. We settled into our rooms (I got to room with Madelon) and ate dinner which was a little different because, obviously it was things we don’t even eat here in Spain! We had Cous-cous (which I have had before and like a lot) and LOTS of veggies and just, a HUGE spread of different foods! It was great. We went basically right to bed that night because we had to get up and be ready to go by 8am. 

Saturday we got up early and went to Ride camels on the beach! It was a short ride, but that was enough for me! Haha! Having the camel stand up and get down with you on it is quite an experience!! Then we had time to hang out at the beach a little-just going down to the ocean and taking pictures which was absolutely beautiful. Then after the Camel rides/Beach we went to the caves (de Hurcules). After that we got back on the bus and drove to Tetouan which was about 2 hours away. There we ate at a restaurant which again, aesthetically beautiful and I enjoyed the food; and then took  a walking tour of the city. It was quite beautiful with all the mountains. We visited a Moroccan Rug shop.. I think our guide said it was the Berbers.. and met some adorable little children and just had a great time. At the end of our walking trip we were supposed to go have free time to shop but they had found out there was supposed to be a peaceful protest in the square where we were going to be, and just got us out of there right away. No need to chance it. J So that night we went back to the hotel and hung out and had supper and then Rufus, one of the guides, put on a magic show for us which was awesome. He’s an amazing magician. And we played a game which my team won, BUT we all get to win a prize…which is a calendar of the Discover Sevilla team (men).. which they made to raise money for the children in 3^rd world countries. Then some stayed downstairs to hang out and some of us just went back up to our rooms for the night to relax. 

Sunday we took a bus ride to Chefchouen which was about 1 hour/45min away from Tangers. Our guide here was the best one I had the entire trip I think. He took us on a walking tour and joked around and just was very knowledgeable about different information. Sunday was a market day in Chefchouen and so we got to experience the Moroccan Market which was DEFFINATELY an eye-opener! I could not imagine some of the things we saw and heard… Blair and I heard a cluckcluckcluc—crack and knew that meant he had just killed the chicken. Which, totally weird for me but I’m glad he was doing it and they were healthy chickens not like in the US with some companies who mistreat/fatten up their chickens with hormones, etc. Anyway, and they definitely eat every part of the animal there too. You will see if you look at my pictures on Facebook. Then after the tour we had lunch which was cous-cous again… and Kabobs which were both really delicious and also some Moroccan cookies for dessert. After lunch we visited the ‘Pharmacy’ which was really like a mixture of spices and natural ingredients they use for cooking and also for curing things like snoring/etc. but it was awesome! I got a 3 Euro massage which was amazing. At the pharmacy I bought a few presents. I got 9 grams of Saffron, and the stuff that is "supposed" to stop snoring! haha we will see!! and I also got a free lipstick which depending on the temp of your body is like clear, pink, or red if your hot. IT STAYS ON ALL DAY. so hard to get off but kinda cool haha! Then we went to a Moroccan Rug shop again which had some really cool cool pretty prettyyy rugs but LittlE DiD I know... he wanted 300 EURO for it.. although i didn't end up getting it, it was a great experience to bargain with them. Such an interesting cultural aspect.

After the rug shop we had a little free time to shop there so i got a few presents and then we took the bus, to the Ferry and then the bus to Sevilla and got home at about 12 or 1230am. The whole experience was amazing in Morocco. I am glad it wasn't more than three days because I was getting HOMESICK of Sevilla :) and I also just was kinda tired of the lack of variety in the food, it seemed as though we ate cous-cous for EVERY MEAL, which, i actually think we did. haha, I also I just was kind of feeling like (in the shops) that they took advantage of our skin color.. I know it happens to everyone. It really opens your eyes up to the problems when it is happening to you. This really affected me because even though I don't discriminate, You don't realize how it feels to be the one discriminated against.

Morocco was totally beautiful and were really accepting of kind of anyone who wanted to come visit their country. But you could totally tell the cultural difference between us and them. They acted like they had never seen a woman before in their life which got annoying at times but it was easy to brush them off with saying things like "i have a boyfriend/husband" :)

Cultural experience=awesome

Would I go back=yes.
Do i recommend others to go=with a group, not alone. but it is so cool to go for a weekend.
Overall experience=AMAZING- WAKA WAKA EH EH

:)

TQM/ Hasta.

Posted by Katrina at 2:43 PM 2 comments n

After the rug shop we had a little free time to shop there so i got a few presents and then we took the bus, to the Ferry and then the bus to Sevilla and got home at about 12 or 1230am. The whole experience was amazing in Morocco. I am glad it wasn't more than three days because I was getting HOMESICK of Sevilla :) and I also just was kinda tired of the lack of variety in the food, it seemed as though we ate cous-cous for EVERY MEAL, which, i actually think we did. haha, I also I just was kind of feeling like (in the shops) that they took advantage of our skin color.. even if we said I only have 20 durhams they would say ok final price 30.. but SOMETIMES if you walk away they will say, OH OK OK OK 20! haha!

Morocco was totally beautiful and were really accepting of kind of anyone who wanted to come visit their country dispite the race. But you could totally tell the cultural difference between us and them. They acted like they had never seen a woman before in their life which got annoying at times but it was easy to brush them off with saying things like "i have a boyfriend/husband" :)

Cultural experience=awesome

Would I go back=once is enough for me
Do i recommend others to go=with a group, not alone. but it is so cool to go for a weekend.
Overall experience=AMAZING- WAKA WAKA EH EH

:)

TQM/ Hasta.

Monday funday?

It is only tuesday and yet half my week is already over. I am really enjoying this whole no class on fridays thing. Plus we dont have class Monday either because its Andalusia day so i have an extra long weekend! I will need it to catch up on sleep.. im sure.

This weekend the plan is to go to Morocco. YES I am very aware of how the situation is there and have taken all precautions by calling the company we are going with, and talking to the people at ISA about their opinions. The company (Discover Sevilla) is also carefully monitoring the situation and will let us know if anything changes. I know where we are going is not having any "problems" right now although the continent of Africa is deff. struggling. From what I hear Morocco is "so close yet so far away" from the situation going on in Libia and Egypt. Recently there have been silent protests but they have been peaceful which is the most important thing. They also have a King in Morocco that they still have some respect for so that is also n the plus side for us.The information about the trip I am going on is:


Join DiscoverSevilla on this 3 day trip where you will spend 2 nights in a beach front 4**** hotel with a swimming pool, great food and excellent service; tour 2 main northern Moroccan cities: Chefchaouen and Tetuan; have a panoramic bus view of Tangiers,  visit the Caves of Hercules and ride on camels near the beach in Tangiers.

I am so excited about going and as long as things stay peaceful where we are going, I will be fine. They have contacts in Morocco so that also helps them know exactly what is going on. I think this trip will be a complete eye opener and I will definitely be a victim of Culture Shock but to me, learning about a new culture is always more exciting. :)


Now that the hard parts are covered lets get back to current life in Spain!
 
My host mom and dad have been great about being "protective" which to me, shows that they care about us, not just about the money they get to keep us here. One day I didnt eat the dessert she gave us and so she brought in another BAR of chocolate for Rachel and I just to make sure we were full, and had enough food. haha Not that I need the chocolate bar being as my half is still sitting on my shelf, but its nice to have a little after lunch when i want something sweet. 

 Monday, Blair and I decided to go get a glass of wine after class and have some bread with tomato and olive oil (PAN con acete y tomate: say it like pahn cOn ah-say-tay E toe-mah-tay) :) my favorite. BUT the first place we went did not have bread? like, when does that ever happen here!? its like TBell running out of Taco shells.. which i would not doubt has happened but this is SPAIN. haha.. anyway, we decided to go to this cute little bar in Plaza de San Fermin (i think) that we had been to before and have a glass of wine and some bread, which was so great. SIDE NOTE: as far as the rioja goes (which is a red wine made in spain) there is like de la casa which is the cheapest but the "worst" and it goes on until rioja gran reserva which is more expensive but the "best". SO that being said, we noticed that the Gran Reserva was only .50Euro more than the rioja(dont know if it was de la casa or not). So, blair decided to get another class of Gran Reserva. I tried it, AMAZINGGG. SO much better than the first glass we had and the second glass.. I am only at 2 now but blair is at 3. we were like, ok, after this glass lets go home and eat supper, then meet up at like 10 to go to a flamenco show. WELL, there was this CRAZY italian man (and his girlfriend) who was stealing the olives out of the bowls so we kinda joked around with him like "oh we know what your doing" and then, he bought us each a glass of Gran Reserva.. yeah. 3Euro a glass.=about 4ish american dollars.. and then we were slowly sipping that one, and he buys us another, and we are like no no its ok we are good. and he insists, so we get another glass.. needless to day, one glass of wine after class at 8 turned into us being at this bar for 2 hrs and meeting the girls at 1030ish for the flamenco show which we watched for one song and left. I was so tired and it was 1230 apready and i needed to eat supper still! Luckily my host mom is great and leaves it for us to eat kind of whenever we want it. :)

Great monday night memories. :) 
School is going great so far. I learn things ever day i am in class which is deff. how it should be. The wine info from above i learned in my culture class. In my literature class We are talking about Miguel de Cervantes (wrote Don Quijote de la Mancha) and its so exciting because we could learn about all this stuff with a great teacher in the US but we are IN SPAIN so we ARE where things happened, and this thursday we get to take a city tour of some of the important places to Cervantes. So exciting. Marketing I learn new stuff everyday, how Ford has messed up SO MUCH when it comes to naming cars and trying to sell them in a different market... Ill give a few examples but you are on your own for finding out what some of them mean. haha.. First of all, Nova which translates to No work in some places in S. America. also Pinto (look up in Portuguese)...Caliente (tried to sell in Mexico) and also Pajero (yeah.).. Talk about needing to know the language/culture!!! haha.  My Business Spanish class is a little less than what i had hoped for but I think I am learning it.. its just a little harder to comprehend because she teaches differently.

Sorry about this novel of a post!!I apparently had a lot to say! :)

Hasta./ TQM.

Lucky girl.

My birthday was a success. :) We went out thursday and my friends surprised me with a dinner and all that jazz. So sweet of them. They paid for my drinks, paid for my supper, and got me gifts. I dont think they needed to do ANY of that. It was GREATLY appreciated. They lessened the blow of not being home on my birthday. :)
couldn't ask for a better day.

The rest of the weekend was very relaxing, so needless to say in my last post when i thought thursday=relaxing night, eh no. didnt happen haha. This week is going to fly by! The (tentative) plan is to go to Morocco on Friday to Sunday and so I'm hoping this political turmoil going on doesn't effect plans. If it does, I hope i get my money back but non the less.

The weather here has been quite idea. like 65 a day if not warmer. This week i think is even supposed to be a little better. I am hoping that the rain goes away!

I will update a little later on in the week. I have been having so much fun here and I will also start to take my camera around more so i can share more "everyday" photos with you all. :)

Loveyou and miss you much!

Hasta./TQM.

rain rain go away! i thought this was Sevilla!!

So as you can see from my title, its been kinda rainy here the past couple of days.. NOT FUN. I didn't have an umbrella the first two times and then FINALLY i buy one, and it rains for like a half hour of me using it, and then stopped. joy. whatever, at least im prepared now! haha

Tomorrow is my 21st birthday. IM SO EXCITED. I wish i could be with my family and friends at home but i know the girls here will make it a good time for me! haha. I got a package from my mommy and seees yesterday! it had peanutbutter in it which made it even more great. (: they are so super. I like getting mail almost every day. haha it makes me feel special.. so keep it coming guys! :)

FINALLY I am all booked up for Spreak Break! We (Blair, Madelon and her friend Brittany, and I) are going to Barcelona, then Rome, Florence, and Balogna(haha) Italy. :) AND  i go to morocco next weekend with madelon, blair, rachel, and a few other people who are in my program going through this other program. I just am nervous for that so we dont get salmonella.. or whatever. I guess people who went through ISA las year got it, but NO WORRIES. ill pull a Charolette on Sex and the City and only eat pudding from Pukipsi! haha just kidding. I also have a trip planned to the Balteric Islands! They are in the mediteranian. I am going to Palma Mallorca with Madelon, Blair, Naralyn and Jen. It is going to be so fun! Asside from me spending money on trips i also get to go to Portugal, Ronda(Tomorrow), Cordoba, Grandada.. oh boy. and I still want to make it to a bullfight and a few museums and some other stuff too and places like Malaga, Cadiz... ohh my itenerary is packed to the max but i am ALSO very much enjoying sevilla.

Now im going to an Intercultural thing, and then out with my friends for a relaxing night hopefully some flamenco! and then tomorrow its off to Ronda for the day and OUT because ILL BE 21! haha.. im so excited if you can't tell or didn't see what i wrote before.

Anyway. Ill hopefully blog soon, might be sat. or sunday after the "big night"

Hasta/TQM.

Anchovies??

I know I have not updated lately being as I have been leading, not the very exciting life lately.. I know that might seem hard to believe being that I'm in Spain but seriously...

Everyday I have class from 10 till 2 basically, and then Monday and Wednesday I have class from 6 to 8 pm. That pretty much eats up my life Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday... and the weekend because they assign SO MUCH homework.

We have taken a liking to this Mexican restaurant that is in Nervion which is about a 45min walk from my place or a 30ish min walk with a 15ish min. metro ride (look at how urban i am taking the metroo.. haha). ANYWAY they totally love us there... Making it a weekly visit I think. haha (: plus their food is amazing so its hard to not want to go, AND the ISA office gives us a coupon for a free beer so then it is def.f hard to pass up.

I still love it here although I do get homesick at night mostly because I can't do anything to take my mind off of it. I also have acquired a cold here which is also not helping the not being at home part. I did go to the Pharmacy and explain to them that I was congested. Here the word (Eme, your word of the day) is Constipado (CON-stee-pah-doe) and I was sure to point to my nose because I dont know if that verb has more than one meaning. ha!! Oh boy..

Life at the house is pretty nice though. Esperanza is such a nice lady and I can't get enough of her grandson! Marco is is name. We spent a half hour or 45 min today playing with the knob from a cabinet. SO ADORABLE. He is staying with us for a few days because his mom, Esperanza's daughter, is having another baby! A girl. And I so hope that she brings her by! (: I really enjoy having kids around the house.

It is almost my birthday! 21. WOW. I feel old. not ok. haha. BuT we are going to go to a Flamenco show on the 19th to post celebrate a little bit. The other day we toured the Real Alcazar and also the Cathedral of Seville. I loved both. The Alcazar tour was very long though so the Cathedral one, we (Madelon and I)stayed for a little bit but then explored by ourselves. I have a lot of pictures up on my Facebook for you to see. It takes a super long time to load them on here so you will just have to venture over there and check them out. (:

Other than that, today I went to Plaza de Espana (with Madelon and her roomate, Brittany) which is prob. thee most gorgeous place i have been to here. AMAZING. I didn't have my camera today but I will be going back. So beautiful.. ah.. (: and then we walked back towards the "centro" and got icecream and ran into one of the Gilbralter girls, Anna that we met on the Metro the other weekend. So fun seeing her. We went shopping and I got a few things but I really want to plan my trips.. it is just hard to resist when they are in "sales" right now so everything is SUPER cheap.

I had anchovies today also. well, parts. I tried. and it wasn't like they were from a can and they weren't bad but they still had skin on them, which you just eat aparently, and they still had their backbone in them... idk.. I knew they ate fish different here so I kind of expected this and it was not totally bad, but I felt so bad for not eating more, I just couldn't wrap my head around it.. idk BLEH.

Anyway, I have a lot of homework ahead of me and not much more of the weekend, being that it is Sat. night and I'm in. (my feet hurt and I still have that cold so I dont really want to be out haha)

Loveyou and miss you lots.

Hasta./TQM.

Primer dia de las clases!

This weekend i slept, a lot. I attempted at going out on Sat... that lasted for an hour. HAHA! I need to get with the times. This weekend forsure we are going out thursday. I am so excited there is a discoteca very close to calle alfalfa which has lots of cheep drinks like shots or beers for one euro. not that im here to drink heavily like some americans but its nice to have a good deal if im going to go out with friends.

ANYWAY, today was the first day of classes! Im in for it this semester i think. I have one class that seems easy. My first class of the day is at 10am and it is Business Spanish. i at first thought it was going to be a vocabulary class but now it seems more like a business class, just, taught in spanish.. we will see. im not excited about the mandatory fieldtrips that are sometimes on random fridays when we do not have class.. but what can you do! The second class im taking is at 12 (so i have an hour break to just study or whatever) and that is Spanish Culture and Civilization. I am actually excited about this class too because it first of all, seems easy(lets just say, a few units are on Flamenco dancing, food, and family.. (: haha ), and second it is going to be really interesting. i LoVe learning about new cultures and all of that so im excited. The third spanish class i have for the day starts at 1 and it is with the same teacher as the 12 o'clock class. Jaime Abeja. He is very chill and i like that about him. Seems very nice and likes that we want to learn and take the classes he teaches. Anyway, the third class is Spanish Literature. I thought i'd be ok but once i saw the syllabus i was like.. UMMMM we will see! haha thank goodness Madelon is in my class also and can help me out since she basically has read EVERYTHING we are going to be reading.(: thats what friends are for! haha

Finally i have one class at 6pm to 8pm on Mondays and Wednesdays that is an International Marketing class. I felt like i learned so much already. This teacher, Nano, is so crude but in a good way, idk he is just AWESOME. plus, he is deff pretty good looking for 40 and i bet he was a lady killer back in the day so he is deff. not hard to pay attention to.. haha

 The days fly by here because after my class at 2 i come to my homestay and have lunch, and then i go back for my 6pm class because i meet madelon after her 4pm class to catch up and whatnot in th emiddle. I unfortunately dont get to see Blair until after 8pm class if at all during the school week so that totally sucks! when i do see her though its like its been forever! I am so glad that i met those two girls here i dont know what i'd do without them.
My roomate rachel and i get along really well too so thats great! and we do stuff together more and more and are becoming closer as well.

all in all my time her in spain is not being wasted away(literally). I am finding myself absolutly obsessed with the city of Sevilla because it is SO beautiful! I can only wish the ones i love would have came with me or at least are able to see it sometime!

 hasta./ tqm

First weekend

Sevilla is more georgous than i could have ever imagined it to be!! The architecture and the streets and the life itself is very enjoyable and relaxing.

Yesterday(aka friday) was the first day of "classes". We just had to make up credit hours so a few of us had to attend class.We took our spanish placement exams which let the school know where we are with our abilities in the language, got advanced. so pumped!! (: I was a little worried but i am so excited now! My marketing teacher is awesome. he is hillarious and has lots of stories to tell.. idk if his class will be difficult or not but we will see...

 Last night we had a 'welcoming dinner' in Nervion which is like prob a 45 min walk away from my home, so we decided to take the metro. We stopped for supper at a Mexican restaurant (i know.. haha) and it was DE-LISH. I actually got to have some Mole which i LOVE so that made me happy! we also made friends with the waiter who was looking to do intercambios (which is when they would for example talk to us in only spanish or we would answer in spanish and they would ask in english or vice versa) which i'm looking forward to doing with whomever i get. Blair gets him. she dibbs-ed it. haha.

Once we got on the Metro, we ended up meeting these two girls from Gibraltar which was SO MUCH FUN. They have english accents because its an english colony down there, they totally loved ours too which is funny because Madelon and I have very Northern accents and they thought it was absolutely hilarious.. even got of them to cry because they thought it was so funny. Good time. I think we are going to go out with them tonight, so that should be really fun.

Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in and trying to find a place to watch the superbowl! I know not a lot of places are open so basically i'm getting school supplies and whatever else i need for class on monday, today to get it out of the way. Its about 2 here and we are going to have lunch soon.

Have a good weekend!

Hasta./ TQM

Finally, Sevilla

Today, we arrived in Sevilla after a 5 hour bus ride. I pretty much ate eggs all day, tortilla espanola for breakfast (which is like a omlet/quise or whatever) filled with potatoes. DE-LISH. and then i had a sandwhich with that in it for lunch.. Paprika pringles (yummy also)  and like a bite of worlds chocolatey-est pudding. and then eggs with i think turkey for supper with bread, yogurt, and fish. it was good. ya know. eggy.

Triana is absolutly beautiful. The sun was out today and the walk to el Centro is really actually really not that bad. I thought it would be long, but it wasnt at all. we're close to the river and in a very nice locaation. Our house is cute. Its super ince with a big "living space" and kitchek and bathroom. Our room is sufficiently big for two people. "Mom"- Esperanza is a housewife and very sweet. "Dad"-Felipe works for the Pres aparently! so i have NO idea what he does.. haha.. secretservice. no idea. haha

Tomorrow we go in early to take placement tests to find out where we are with our spanish language.. I need to get in Advanced, its very important.. so im a little worried about that. Then we find out what time/schedule of our classes and POSSIBLY have class tomorrow afternoon at 2. Which is a little weird because that is lunchtime and they are very insistant about us eating lunch with our families.. so.. kinda strange!! otherwise ill be eating lunch at 4 everday... which isnt exactly my cup of tea if you know what i mean.

Also, we have a welcome dinner tomorrow. That might be kinda fun so we will see. Usually there are no classes fridays so we can travel but tomorrow we need to get the credit hours aparently so yeah..

 long day so i am going to go to bed early tonight.

 hasta.

like, seriously, ya know?

So the journey in Madrid has ended and we are in Toledo for the rest of the day (even though its already like 620 here) and its beautiful!

Our last day in Madrid was anything but crazy haha. Madelon and Blair and I explored the metro.. and shopped a little even though we didn't find anything.

Yesterday we went to El Museo del Prado and it was very interesting but kinda repetative from the class i took last semester on spanish history. Then we went directly to el Palacio Real and it was CRAZY. We only explored a few rooms but they are so gaudy and rediculously georgous! Of course pictures aren't allowed so you will have to just come and see for yourself if your curious!! (:
The rest of the day was to ourselves and we just kinda walked around.. took the metro (to the wrong exit) and continued to walk 6 or 7 blocks to the Hotel.

**ALSO note for the day: cobblestone streets, while beautiful and seemingly fit for the streets we pass through, totally suck for real life.

Today in Toledo, the historical capital of Spain (meaning it was the capital before madrid), and we saw the oldest church there, and heard some really cool stuff about that also like for example, the statues of saints and angles on the outside had a white stone head while their bodies were grey stone. I asked about it and this is because when Spain had the war with Napoleon, they cut the heads off of the statues because, you know it was the war.. and so they used the white stone instead of grey to show that it is not original, and also kind of shows the story in a way so that is awesome.

Then we went to this sort of park and it was totally beautiful (view area/ parque). Then we went to el Centro de la ciudad which was also, completely beautiful. walked around there and just kinda talked. it was BEAUTIFUL today, sunshiny.. and just nice. But now we are at the hotel and we go meet our host families tomorrow, which is kind of exciting.

Mandatory meeting now and then resting up tonight. Have to be bright and shiney for my spanish family.

Hastaa.